Not heating your home despite the cold or skipping a meal when you’re hungry: one in four French people say they are in a precarious situation, according to a Secours Populaire barometer published friday november 4th.
According to this study carried out by the Ipsos institute among 6,000 individuals from six countries (Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom), according to the quota method, 62% of Europeans have already restricted their movements and 47% have already given up heating their home despite the cold weather due to a “difficult financial situation”.
It also happened to 34% of these people to have given up treatment when they had a health problem and to 29% of them to skip a meal when they were hungry. In total, 27% of those questioned said they were in a precarious situation. In detail, 51% of the Greeks consider themselves weakened, against 24% of the French and 18% of the Germans.
Difficult future
“With soaring prices, the energy crisis and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, for many Europeans living conditions have deteriorated in 2022”, underlines the Secours populaire, which supported nearly 3.5 million people in difficulty last year in France. More than one out of two Europeans (54%) thus feels the reduction in their purchasing power and the rise in prices – the French are 63%.
“A situation that is all the more difficult as it follows two years when living standards had been marked by the shock of the health crisis”, adds the association. Two out of three Europeans say they no longer know which expenses to compromise on (64%) – the Greeks are 88%; the Poles, 62%.
Respondents are not optimistic about their future. According to the study, more than one in two Europeans fear falling into precariousness (55%) – anxiety is less present for the French, but it remains very high (42%).
Families particularly affected
Families are above all affected by precariousness and rising prices: almost one parent in two has already given up on taking their child on vacation or enrolling in an extracurricular activity, and 33% say they are not not always able to give their child a varied diet.
Finally, 76% of European parents have deprived themselves of leisure (75% in France) and 48% of food (42% in France) for “provide good living conditions” to their children, says the survey.